Regenerative building block and diode bridge rectifier and methods

ABSTRACT

A rectifier building block has four electrodes: source, drain, gate and probe. The main current flows between the source and drain electrodes. The gate voltage controls the conductivity of a narrow channel under a MOS gate and can switch the RBB between OFF and ON states. Used in pairs, the RBB can be configured as a three terminal half-bridge rectifier which exhibits better than ideal diode performance, similar to synchronous rectifiers but without the need for control circuits. N-type and P-type pairs can be configured as a full bridge rectifier. Other combinations are possible to create a variety of devices.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/359,094, filed on Jan. 23, 2009, which application is related to, and claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/022,968, filed Jan. 23, 2008, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/048,336, filed Apr. 28, 2008, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/975,467, filed Sep. 26, 2007, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Priority is also claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120 from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/238,308, filed Sep. 25, 2008, and, through it, claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/975,467, filed Sep. 26, 2007, entitled Adjustable Field Effect Rectifier, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/022,968, filed Jan. 23, 2008, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/048,336, filed Apr. 28, 2008, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference, and commonly assigned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor rectifiers, and more specifically to a regenerative self-controlling mechanism for improving the performance of diode bridges, and methods therefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Diode bridges, either full or half bridges, are very common circuit elements to perform rectification of oscillating output signal. A half bridge is made of two diodes and has three external electrodes. They are commonly used for the output rectification in switched-mode power supply circuits: e.g. in forward, push-pull, half bridge and full bridge topologies. For one polarity of the signal, electric current flows through one diode (in ON state) and not through the other (in OFF state). For the opposite polarity the diodes switch their states: the ON diode goes to OFF state and the OFF diode changes to ON state. This switching of the current flow between the two diodes results in rectification.

The energy loss during signal rectification is determined by the performance of individual diode. For the real diode implementation, it is limited by the ideal diode equation: I.sub.F/I.sub.R.1toreq.exp(qV.sub.F/kT)

where I.sub.F is a forward current, V.sub.F is the forward bias voltage, I.sub.R is the leakage current and kT/q=0.0259V at room temperature T. Thus a certain rectification ratio requires that the forward voltage drop is larger than some limit V.sub.F>00259 ln(1+I.sub.F/I.sub.R)

For example, for a diode conducting a current of 10 A, with 10.mu.A leakage current, the forward voltage drop is larger than 0.358. Some diodes are close to this theoretical limit, leaving very small space for improvement through conventional techniques. This theoretical limit leads to very inefficient diodes once the electronics moves to lower voltages. For example, if a power supply uses 3.3V the losses on the half bridge will be about 0.358/3.3=11%. This high energy loss just for the rectification is unacceptable for modem to switched-mode power supplies.

To overcome the high losses on rectifier bridges for low voltage applications, synchronous rectification is used. One approach is to use a MOSFET to perform the rectification function of the diode. However, the circuit implementation of synchronous rectification becomes very complicated. A controller is needed to provide the gate voltage and to change MOSFET from the ON to the OFF state. Sensors are needed to tell the controller that the sign of the applied voltage has changed. This additional signal processing reduces the speed of operation for half bridges made of synchronous rectifiers. Thus instead of 2 diodes, one needs a much more complicated and expensive circuit.

Thus, there has been a long-felt need for a bridge rectifier which can operate efficiently at low voltages, but without the complex circuitry and limited frequency range of conventional synchronous rectifiers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A regenerative building block (RBB) is proposed as a new semiconductor device, which in particular can be used in pairs to make efficient diode half bridges capable of operating at low voltages without unacceptable loss. Each RBB has 4 electrodes: source, drain, gate and probe. In an embodiment, the current between the source and drain of each RBB can be controlled by the gate voltage. The probe electrode of the first RBB provides the regenerative signal for the gate electrode of the second RBB. This signal from the probe electrode can be used to switch an adjacent semiconductor device, forming the second device of the pair, between ON and OFF states. Thus, a half bridge made with a pair of RBB's in accordance with the invention has only three external contacts. An embodiment of a half bridge having a common anode or common cathode made from two RBB's exhibits better than ideal diode performance similar to synchronous rectifiers. Since the half bridge requires only three contacts, the control signal complexity of conventional synchronous rectifiers is avoided.

THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates in schematic form a 4-terminal regenerative building block (RBB) structure. The current flow between source and drain is controlled by the gate electrode. The Probe electrode can be used as additional current control or as a source of regenerative signal.

FIG. 2 illustrates two RBB's as shown in FIG. 1 combined to form a regenerative half bridge. The Probe electrode of each RBB is connected to the Gate electrode of the other RBB for automatic switching between ON and OFF states. In an embodiment, two n-type (p-type) RBB's will make a common anode (common cathode) regenerative half bridge.

FIG. 3 illustrates common anode and common cathode half bridges combined into a full diode bridge. Current flow is shown by arrows.

FIG. 4 graphically depicts forward voltage drop vs. applied current. Common anode (red) and common cathode (green) half bridges have a smaller voltage drop than the ideal diode (blue) with 20 uA leakage.

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic I-V curve for regenerative half-bridges in accordance with the invention. The negative resistance region corresponds to the automatic switching from OFF to ON state, when the gate voltage exceeds the threshold voltage.

FIG. 6 depicts a regenerative Half Bridge Current doubler rectification design.

FIG. 7 show current (green) and voltage (red) waveforms for a current doubler constructed in accordance with an aspect the invention. Forward recovery happens at 3.mu.s, and reverse recovery at 4.mu.s. The forward voltage drop in the middle is 0.05V.

FIG. 8 depicts reverse recovery for a regenerative half bridge in accordance with the invention. The first negative peak corresponds to the transition of the RBB from ON to OFF state. The second negative peak corresponds to the transition of the adjacent RBB from OFF to ON state, when the voltage on the first RBB is big enough to switch it ON.

FIG. 9 depicts a semiconductor structure according to an embodiment of the process of the invention, after vertical etching through insulating oxide, polysilicon gate and gate oxide (can leave some of gate oxide to reduce the channeling) using the Gate mask. Contact As implant has been made for source and probe electrodes.

FIG. 10 illustrates a semiconductor structure after a probe mask is placed on the Gate mask to cover the Probe contact opening and the P-well boron implant has been made.

FIG. 11 illustrates the semiconductor after isotropic ashing of the photoresist has been made to provide self-aligning mask for the next step.

FIG. 12 illustrates the result after the channel boron implant has been made, that should uniformly affect the threshold voltage of the device.

FIG. 13 illustrates the structure after both masks are removed.

FIG. 14 illustrates the structure once the insulating oxide is deposited and an insulation mask is placed on top.

FIG. 15 depicts the structure once a vertical oxide etch is performed.

FIG. 16 illustrates the structure after a probe mask is placed to cover the probe contact and a trench is etched to provide contact to the P-well.

FIG. 17 illustrates the structure after the photoresist is removed and the structure is ready for multilayer metallization.

FIG. 18 schematically depicts a regenerative half bridge with common anode (cathode) made from two n-type (p-type) MOSFETs, configured to have the drain voltage applied to the gate. This configuration provides automatic switching between ON and OFF states during operation.

FIG. 19 schematically depicts a regenerative half bridge made using one RBB and one MOSFET.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a new device which can be thought of as a regenerative building block (RBB), and methods of manufacture therefore. In an embodiment, the device is particularly suited to fabrication of devices such as half bridge and full bridge rectifiers. Although those skilled in the art will quickly recognize that the present invention can be used to create a variety of semiconductor devices, for purposes of clarity the present invention will be described in the context of a bridge rectifier, both as a device and as a method of manufacture.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, the RBB structure indicated generally at 100 is shown both in terms of its physical structure (FIG. 1) and its schematic representation in a pair configured as a half bridge rectifier (FIG. 2). As shown in FIG. 1, the RBB 100 has four electrodes: source 105, drain 110, gate 115 and probe 120. The main current flows between the source and drain electrodes. The gate voltage controls the conductivity of the narrow channel 125 under MOS gate 115 and can switch the RBB between OFF and ON states. The transition from ON to OFF happens at the threshold voltage, which can be adjusted either by using a doping profile under the gate or by changing the thickness of the gate oxide 127. In at least some embodiments, the main purpose of the probe electrode 120 is to extract a regenerative signal, which can be used as a gate control signal for another semiconductor device, such as another RBB or MOSFET.

When the RBB 100 is in the ON state, the voltage drop between source 105 and drain 110 is small, leading to a small probe signal at 120. In the OFF state, the depletion layer boundary changes with the voltage applied between the source and drain. For the small applied voltage the depletion layer boundary 130 is located between the probe 120 and the source 105, and typically ends under the gate for a small applied voltage. In this state, the probe can be thought of in a practical sense as being essentially shorted to the drain, and the probe voltage follows the drain voltage. However for the large applied voltage the depletion layer boundary 135 extends beyond the probe electrode, the probe voltage is almost constant and is almost independent of the drain voltage. This makes the probe voltage attractive as a regenerative signal that can signal other devices whether the RBB 100 is in ON or OFF state. The maximum probe voltage can be adjusted at least by modifying the geometry (e.g. width) of the Probe contact 120 or by changing the doping profile under the Probe contact.

Turning more specifically to FIG. 2, this figure shows how two RBB's 100 can be combined to make regenerative half bridge. The gate electrode 115 of each RBB is controlled by a regenerative signal from the probe contact 120 (and 120′) of the other RBB. Note that the resulting regenerative half-bridges have only 3 external contacts, at the common source 105 (and 105′), and each drain 110 and 110′, as if they were made out of regular diodes. This allows for substantially pin-for-pin replacement of diode bridges, but without the low voltage limitation of the prior art, and also without the need for the complex control circuitry characteristic of prior art synchronous rectifiers.

The RBB 100 can be n-type or p-type depending on the choice of the epitaxial layer doping. Each RBB has an intrinsic body diode, and for application in circuits typically replaces a diode with the same polarity. Thus two N-type RBB's can be combined into a common anode half-bridge 235, and two P-type RBBs make common cathode half-bridge 240, as shown at the bottom of FIG. 2. During the half-bridge operation one of the devices stays ON while the other is OFF. The regenerative signal from the OFF device has the right sign to help the other device to stay ON.

In an embodiment, the thickness of the gate oxide and the doping in the channel region are carefully managed to optimize device performance. In addition, N++ doping in the probe opening is preferred over P++ doping in at least some embodiments.

In testing the design shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a full bridge was tested as shown in FIG. 3, and was configured from common cathode and common anode half bridges as shown in FIG. 2. The test results are shown on FIG. 4. More specifically, the I-V curve of FIG. 4 is for a 10 A, 20V bridge, and shows the forward voltage on a diode (vertical axis) vs. voltage applied to the bridge. By using a 1 ohm load resistor, the current on the horizontal axis is practically equal to the full bridge input voltage. Forward voltage on a diode at 10 A current (200 A/cm.sup.2 current density for the n-type device, and 67 A/cm.sup.2 for the p-type) is less than 0.05V. The curve 405 shows the result for the n-type device (used in common anode part of the full bridge) and the curve 410 shows the result for the p-type device (used in common cathode half bridge). The region 415 with the negative differential resistance corresponds to the device transition from OFF to ON state. Notice that at zero applied voltage all four RBB devices are in the OFF state. They stay in the OFF state during reverse bias, and automatically go to the ON state when the forward bias reaches approximately 0.5V. The typical leakage of corresponding devices in the OFF state is on the order of 60.mu.A and 160.mu.A. Leakage can be reduced at the expense of higher VF by changing the doping concentration under the MOS gate or by changing the geometrical parameters of the structure.

The schematic I-V curve for our device operation in all quadrants is shown at 500 in FIG. 5. It looks like a regular diode I-V curve, except for the negative resistance region, which is a result of device physics. The shape of the curve as a whole, including the negative resistance region, depends on geometry and the doping concentrations of the constituent RBB's and therefore is adjustable for an individual RBB.

It can therefore be appreciated that the performance characteristics of this bridge are similar to the one that can be made with synchronous rectifiers, but the device of the present invention does not need either a controller or the circuit associated with the controller implementation typically required of synchronous rectifiers. The transient behavior of the RBB's 100 can be optimized to provide maximum frequency operation with minimum EMI by changing doping profiles and devices geometries, including particularly channel boron dosage, gate oxide thickness, and the width of the probe opening. The transient behavior typically is impacted by the gate capacitance, since carriers are accumulated under the gate during forward bias. The gate oxide on the RBB can be thinned, or, as discussed hereinafter, removal of part of the gate during processing assists in compensating for any capacitance increase. From the foregoing, it can be appreciated that the regenerative half bridges of the present invention do not need additional circuit elements and, due to their improved performance relative to the art, also permit increased frequency of operation.

The dynamic behavior of the common anode half bridge has been tested for the current doubler rectification circuit shown in FIG. 6. This circuit can be used for the output signal rectification and filtering in several switch mode power supply topologies. Typical waveforms for current 705 and voltage 710 are shown on FIG. 7 for one cycle of operation. The forward and reverse recoveries do not exhibit significant spikes. Details of reverse recovery are shown on FIG. 8, demonstrating that transient time is small. Voltage is shown by curve 805, and current is shown by curve 810.

One possible way to manufacture the RBB is described below in FIGS. 9-17. Those skilled in the art will recognize numerous alternative approaches, and thus the present invention is not limited to the specific method of manufacture described hereinafter. In addition, isolation of the device is desirable in at least some embodiments, and such isolation, if desired, can be achieved by use of a guard ring structure, isolators, or other structures, depending upon the application. These structures are well known in the art, and so are not described here. Further, it is desirable, in at least some embodiments, to have the MOS channel area be uniform throughout the device. One approach for achieving this is to use a self-aligning processing as discussed below.

First, an epitaxial layer 900 is grown on a substrate 910. The doping concentration (N- or P-type) and thickness of this epitaxial layer depends on the breakdown voltage and the desired device type. For the sake of clarity, the following discussion describes the process for an N-type device, which is complementary to the P-type process.

Following the growth of the epitaxial layer 900 a gate oxide 935 on the order of 30-200 A is made, followed by fabricating a layer 940 of Polysilicon on the order of 600-1200 A. Then, an insulating oxide layer 945 is laid down, on the order of 50-1500 A thick. The gate mask 950 is then developed, followed by vertically etching the insulating oxide, polysilicon and gate oxide. Contacts for the source and probe 930 electrodes are made using As implantation through the opening 925. The structure at this stage is shown in FIG. 9.

As shown in FIG. 10, a second Probe mask 1005 is then made on top of the Gate mask, using any suitable method such as silicon nitride or other material. This mask arrangement provides self-alignment and results in uniform barrier heights in the MOS channel area. The P-well boron 1010 is also implanted. For at least some embodiments, the dose of P-well boron is preferably high enough to restrict the main current flow through the channel area.

The Gate mask is isotropically etched as shown in FIG. 11 at 1105. This provides a self-aligned mask for the channel boron implantation 1205, as shown in FIG. 12. The Probe mask is also etched at this stage, and typically covers the adjustment area indicated at 1210.

Next, as shown in FIG. 13, the Gate and Probe masks are removed, and an insulating to oxide 1405 is deposited and an insulation mask 1410 is placed on top as shown in FIG. 14. Then, as shown in FIG. 15, the insulating oxide is etched as indicated at 1505 to provide contacts to the probe and source electrodes.

Then, a Probe mask 1600 is placed on top of the insulation mask. A trench 1605 shown in FIG. 16 is vertically etched in silicon to provide contact to the P-well, and a P-type implant 1610 is performed to provide ohmic contact for the Source electrode. Otherwise, in some embodiments, the charge in the P-well will be changed by the hole current that flows to the anode through the P-wells of the guard ring structure. This may slow down device operation, unless the distance to the guard ring's P-well is small enough. Notice that there is still a good ohmic contact for the electron flow, since most of the electron current is flowing through the narrow channel under the gate.

Referring next to FIG. 17, removal of the photoresist concludes the active area processing. Multilayer metallization is then performed in a conventional manner as for MOSFET devices, and is therefore not shown, such that three contact areas are created on the top surface of the chip to conclude the RBB manufacturing process and yield the device shown in FIG. 1.

In principal it is not always necessary to use RBB to make regenerative half bridges or diodes. For example, for the low breakdown voltage devices the full drain voltage can be used as a probe voltage. Then regenerative half bridges can be made from 2 MOSFETs (FIG. 18) or from a combination of RBB and MOSFET (FIG. 19). Notice, that to operate at small voltages the MOSFET should have small threshold voltage and therefore small gate oxide thickness. Thus, for embodiments designed for handling significant power, practically one cannot apply full drain voltage to the low threshold gate, since the thin gate oxide might be damaged and the device destroyed. For lower power devices, such as those incorporated into integrated circuits, which typically have all three terminals on the top surface, full drain voltage can be applied to the gate in many embodiments.

Having fully described a preferred embodiment of the invention and various alternatives, those skilled in the art will recognize, given the teachings herein, that numerous alternatives and equivalents exist which do not depart from the invention. It is therefore intended that the invention not be limited by the foregoing description, but only by the appended claims. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A rectifier device comprising: first and second transistors, each transistor comprising a gate region; a source region adjacent said gate region; a drain region; a drift region adjacent said drain region; a semiconductor region in the drift region and aligned with an opening of the gate region; a first electrode coupled to the gate region; and a second electrode coupled to the semiconductor region of the drift region, the first electrode and second electrode being configured to control a voltage of the gate region independent of a voltage of the semiconductor region; said second electrode of said first transistor being coupled to the first electrode of the second transistor, and said second electrode of said second transistor being coupled to the first electrode of the first transistor.
 2. The rectifier device of claim 1, wherein the drift region is configured to carry current between the source region and the drain region when the first and second transistors are in a conducting state.
 3. The rectifier device of claim 1, wherein each transistor comprises a body region; wherein the source region is in the body region; and wherein the drift region is a portion of the body region.
 4. The rectifier device of claim 1, wherein each transistor comprises a bulk region; and wherein the drift region is a portion of the bulk region.
 5. The rectifier device of claim 1, wherein the second electrode is not directly connected to the first electrode.
 6. The rectifier device of claim 1, wherein each transistor comprises a channel region configured to conduct current between the source region and the drain region when the first and second transistors are in a conducting state.
 7. The rectifier device of claim 1, wherein the source region is configured to produce a depletion region in the drift region when the first and second transistors are in a non-conducting state; and wherein the semiconductor region is in the drift region such that the semiconductor region is within the depletion region when the first and second transistors are in the non-conducting state.
 8. The rectifier device of claim 1, wherein the source region comprises a semiconductor material of a first conductivity type; and wherein the semiconductor region comprises a semiconductor material of the first conductivity type.
 9. The rectifier device of claim 8, wherein the semiconductor region has a dopant concentration greater than that of the source region.
 10. The rectifier device of claim 1, wherein the source region comprises a first source region and a second source region, the first source region being positioned on a first side of the drift region and the second source region being positioned on a second side of the drift region; and wherein the semiconductor region is positioned between the first source region and the second source region.
 11. The rectifier device of claim 10, wherein the gate region comprises a first gate region and a second gate region, the first gate region being positioned over a portion of the first source region and over a first portion of the semiconductor region and the second gate region being positioned over a portion of the second source region and over a second portion of the semiconductor region.
 12. An apparatus comprising: a first field effect device; and a second field effect device, the first field effect device comprising a first gate region, a first source region adjacent said first gate region, a first drain region, a first drift region adjacent said first drain region, a first semiconductor region in the first drift region and aligned with an opening of the first gate region, a first electrode coupled to the first gate region, and a second electrode coupled to the first semiconductor region of the first drift region, the second electrode being a different electrode than the first electrode; the second field effect device comprising a second gate region, a second source region, a second drain region, a second drift region configured to carry current between the second source region and the second drain region when the second field effect device is in a conducting state, a second semiconductor region in the second drift region and aligned with an opening of the second gate region, a third electrode coupled to the second gate region, and a fourth electrode coupled to the second semiconductor region of the second drift region, the fourth electrode being a different electrode than the second electrode; the first electrode being coupled to the fourth electrode, and the second electrode being coupled to the third electrode; the first source region, the second source region, the first semiconductor region, and the second semiconductor region being of a first conductivity type.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a fifth electrode coupled to the first source region and the second source region.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising first, second, and third external terminals, the first external terminal being coupled to the first drain region, a second external terminal being coupled to the second drain region, the third terminal being coupled to a metal layer. 